Rika's rescue arctic seals
by midnightraven234
Summary: I'm gonna have other stories following this story.Rika has a reserch project due, but the only thing she cares about is how she can save the arctic seal population.  Henrika Please R\R
1. reserch papers

Rika's rescue

Chapter 1 The arctic seals serch

Rika was sitting in her desk listening to the reserch assinment her teacher was assighning."Now class this reserch assinment is 100 percent of your grade so I hope you do the I will call your names and you will tell me what animal you are going to study,Rina-"he called,"crane."She called all of the class exept for Rika."Rika your animal."He said looking at her."Um...the arctic seal."She looked at his clipbord."Alright your reserch starts now."He said as he went twords the was heading twords the library to do her reserch when she thought about what she knows about seals.'Hm... well they swim,they live in the arctic and in some parts of north america.'She finnaly made it to the library."Hello Rika how are you."The libraian asked."I'm doing fine,do you have any books on arctic seals?"She asked."Umm not on arctic seals, but on seals yes let me go get it for you."The librarian turnd around and went in her office."Here it is,here you go."The librarian smiled and waved her goodbye when Rika left."Good luck on the reserch."She said to Rika.

Rika was waiting for the others after school at guilmon's old desided to read the book that the librarian gave her."Hm lets see, seals around the we go Antartica."

Although there are 35 species of seals, only six types live in Antarctica: Antarctic Fur Seals, Crabeater Seals, Leopard Seals, Ross Seals, and Weddell Seals. However, these six species make up the majority of the world's seal population. With no natural land predators, such as polar bears or man, Antarctic seals behave much differently than northern seals-showing little fear of man.

Seals are categorized into three families: true seals, eared seals (common to most zoos), and walruses (found in the arctic). All of the seals in Antarctica are true seals (no ears). Even without ears, seal hearing out of the water is as good as human's. In the water, their hearing is even better. Its theorized that seals use a type of sonar to locate food, much like what dolphins and whales use.

In addition to using sonar for navigation and locating groups of food, its believed seals use their whiskers as a form of radar. The whiskers detect movement in the water and allow the seal to zoom in a particular object. Through the use of their sonar and radar, seals can actually find food in complete darkness better than in the light.

As for their eyes, seals don't really see color but they are particularly sensitive to common sea water colors (greens, green-blues). Seals eyes have a silvery lining behind the retina, just like cats and other nocturnal/low-light hunters. This lining reflects the light back through the eye and increases the total amount of light absorbed by the eye-another necessary feature when hunting in the dimly lit depths of the oceans.

When in the water, a seal's nose closes automatically and doesn't reopen until it surface. Typically, a seal can remain underwater for 15 minutes (young) to 30 minutes (adults). This also is true of when they're sleep. Seals sleep just under the surface of the ocean and can resurface for air without waking.

**Antarctic Fur Seals**

Unlike other seals found in Antarctica, Fur Seals are not true seals. They are from the eared seal family. They reside on the rocky shores of islands found in western Antarctica and average adults weigh 350 pounds (160 kilos).

Although extremely sociable among other Fur Seals, they are known to bit humans without provocation and move well enough to outrun humans on land. These poor manners were not helped by the fact that Fur Seals were heavily hunted during the 19th century. At one point, their total population was reduced to a few thousand.

Fur Seals were placed under protection at the beginning of this century and have made a remarkable recovery. Their breeding season begins in December and takes place in very large, dense colonies. At colonies on South Georgia Island, seal populations increase by an average of 17% a year. This translates to their population doubling every five years.

**Crabeater Seals**

Despite their name, Crabeaters eats mainly krill; crabs form only a small portion of the seals' diet. Crabeaters live at the edge of pack ice and are normally solitary animals. However during the breeding season, they will form small family groups consisting of the mother, father and a pup.

The Crabeater seal accounts for over half of the world's seal population. Estimates place the Crabeater's population in excess of 30 million. Its population explosion is possibly due to the decline of whales, the Crabeater's chief competition for krill.

The Crabeater's main predator is the killer whale (or orca). Occasionally whales will bump an ice floe which has seals on it in order to knock seal into the water. Leopard Seals also prey on the Crabeater, although typically only on the young.

**Leopard Seals**

Leopard Seals are the largest of the true Antarctic seals. (Southern Elephant Seals are more common on islands near and above the Antarctic Convergence, although they do venture south to the actual continent.) Leopard Seals can grow to over 11 feet long (3.4 meters) and weigh, on average, 1,200 pounds (540 kilos). They are rather easy to identify due to the reptilian-like head, long sinewy neck, and arched thorax.

Although commonly found on pack ice, leopard seals spend a good deal of their time patrolling the shores of penguin rookeries. Warm-blooded animals account for nearly 40% of the leopard seals' diet. Typically, they feed on penguins and small Crabeater seals. The remainder of their diet consists of krill (approximately 40%), fish, squid, and other invertebrates.

**Ross Seals**

Because of its tendency to live on heavy pack ice where ships cannot pass, little is known about this species. What is known is they're nearly as large as Leopard Seals. Females Ross Seals can reach 11 feet in length (3.3 meters) and weight an average of 420 pounds (190 kilos). As with most Antarctic seals, males tend to be smaller.

Ross Seals are identified by the short heads and rather large eyes. Also, there often are strips starting at the chin and running along the sides of the neck to the chest. Their diet consists mainly of fish and squid, although they're not opposed to eating other invertebrates.

Due to the lack of knowledge about them as well as their infrequent sightings, Ross Seals are protected under the Antarctic Treaty.

**Southern Elephant Seals**

These are the big daddies of the Antarctic beach. Elephant Seals can tip the scale at a hefty 7,900 pound (3,600 kilos) and measure up to 15 feet (4.5 meters). They commonly are found throughout the sub-Antarctic islands, although some colonies are located near the continent.

Being larger in this specie, males dominate the breeding process. They, first, battle with other males to establish territory on the beach. To the victor goes the spoils; this includes harems which can include up to 50 females. Breeding colonies are terribly cramped for space. These multi-ton beasts lie next to and on top of each other. Often, pups are crushed under the weight of adult seals.

In order to satisfy their huge appetites, Elephant Seals dive deep into the ocean and feed on various forms of fish and squid.

**Weddell Seals**

One of the more commonly sighted seals, Weddells often are found in groups. Some of these groups contain several hundred seals, although this typically occurs during their breeding season (September to November). During this time, males engage in numerous territorial battles.

Unlike other species, these seals prefer to lie on snow and ice even when open land or rock is available. This trait, along with their desire to avoid Orcas, is one of the primary reasons Weddells are found on inland fast ice around the continent.

During the winter months, Weddells must maintain diving/breathing holes in the ice in order to feed. Feeding primarily on fish, Weddells can dive in excess of 1,000 feet (300 meters) in search of food. To make these long dives possible, they carry five time the amount of oxygen in their blood as human do. To get the most from this, Weddells slow their heart rate and limit blood circulation to vital organs such as the brain, kidneys, and liver.

"Wow i didnt know seals were getting hunted from not only polarbears but humans as well."Rika said as she saw a picture of a man standing next to a dead seal."I wanna do something but, i cant."

thats the end of ch.1 hope you liked it. 


	2. Lily the harp seal

Rika's rescue

arctic seals

"Wow I didn't know seals were not only hunted by not only polar bears but humans."Rika gasped as she saw a picture of a man standing next to a dead seal."YO RIKA!"Kazu looked over to see the others running twords her."Hey guys,what's wrong?"She asked."The life guard found something on the beach and no one's helping or seeing what it is."Henry aswered."Well what are we waiting for lets go see what it is."She all ran twords the beach.

At the beach

"Can someone please help us."The life guard asked."We will."The tamers looked at them while everyone walked looked at the two objects on the ground."Wait a minute these are seals."Rika said looking at the bodies on the saw the small one move."Hey this ones moving."She pointed at the small picked it up and put it in her jacket and started caressing it."It's a doesn't even have it's eyes open."She others looked at her in surprice."Wow Rika how did you know they were seals and your already careing for the baby when you just found it."Ryo said."Well as I see it the mother is dead and we can't just leave the baby."She said holding the baby close to her baby started nudgeing her head telling her it was hungry."Rika we have to put it in an aquarium, they'll take care of it."Henry looked at him and sadly said,"I know but it so cute and I don't complement alot of cute things."The seal baby started nudgeing her again so the took it to an vet there let Rika feed it and wash it while he talked to the tamers."So you guys just found it by its mother,that was dead,and your friend didn't want to leave so she was actully going to take it home."He asked looked up from the shark books and replied."Yep."He walked to Rika who was feeding the baby in the other room while the tamers waited."She really likes you, I've never seen a wild animal get so attached to a human that fast."Hes petting the smiled and said,"Well mabey it thinks I'm its mother."He looked at her and smiled at the 15 year old."You want to keep her, don't you?"He looked up and nodded."Well I'll let you keep her until she's old enough to live here, we can't take her in because she's to young and none of the other adaults can take care of her."He said as he gave her a bag."Come back here every week and i'll give you food for her, she also needs a name."Rika smiled and quickly answered,"I will, and I'll call her Lily since she's as white as a lily." "Alright but you might need to call your parents first."Rika called her mother and asked if she could keep Lily.

'Sure I don't have a problem with you keeping a dog."

"Umm mom this isn't a dog, it's a seal."

'You want to keep a sea creature...ugh fine but if it does something bad I'm taking it back to the aquarium.'

"thanks mom."

she turned to the vet and smiled,"She said yes."He handed Lily over and the bag plus a cage to cary her in."Put her in the cage and keep her in there until you get home." "Ok."

Rika's house

The vet had Rika wash the baby again because the baby found a bag of durt for the bottom of an iguana's cage."Your a silly little seal aren't you."Rika laughed, tickling Lily's barked(A.N: I know what seals sound like but I just don't know how to put it in the story) and splashed 's mom walked in to see her daughter playing with the seal."So is this the seal you wanted to keep?"She nodded and pulled Lily out of the tub."I named her Lily since she's white."Rumiko laughed and started to pet the seal."Why did you want to keep her, she is a wild animal."Rika smile faded and told Rumiko,"We found her and her mother on the beach, her mother was dead when we found Lily."Rumiko looked at Lily and smiled."Well it lookes like you're her mother now."

that's the end of ch.2 hope u liked it please R\R


End file.
